Conventional vending machines are automated, and thus can provide several benefits to sellers. For example, a vending machine can sell products at places where human sales people and face-to-face retailing efforts are not practical (e.g. the lobby of an office building); and a vending machine can sell products at times that are inconvenient for traditional retailers (e.g. 3 AM on a Tuesday morning). However, conventional vending machines do not permit the flexibility enjoyed by human retailers in dynamically responding to changes in supply and demand.
Applicants have previously recognized that significant benefits ensue from vending machines configured to dynamically respond to market forces. For example, Applicants' co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/947,798 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY MANAGING VENDING MACHINE INVENTORY PRICES, filed Oct. 9, 1997, provides several benefits, such as the automated, dynamic pricing of products sold via a vending machine, in which the pricing is based on stored rules that can consider up-to-date supply and demand data gathered when no human salesperson is present (e.g., during the sales period prior to a restock date).
Further, Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/095,372 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VENDING A COMBINATION OF PRODUCTS, filed Mar. 11, 2002, provides several benefits, such as the automated, dynamic configuration of promotional product combinations based on supply and demand data.
Further, Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/218,085 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VENDING PRODUCTS, filed Dec. 22, 1998, provides several benefits, such as automatically selecting products for customers based on supply and demand data.
Further, Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/345,092, entitled VENDING MACHINE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENCOURAGING THE PURCHASE OF PROFITABLE ITEMS, filed Jun. 30, 1999, provides several benefits, such as presenting offers for substitute products based on supply and demand data.